Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi is calling for a boycott of the Royal Family, alleging that they don’t value black lives.
The boycott comes after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey that somebody in the Royal Family had “concerns and conversations” about how dark her child’s skin color might be after she was first pregnant with her son Archie.
Tometi told TMZ that Meghan’s allegations that at least one member of the Royal Family expressed “concerns” about Archie’s skin color makes it clear to her that the entire Royal Family does not value black lives.
Although no one knows who the alleged Royal Family member is, Tometi says that people should nonetheless start believing black women when they speak up.
“Regardless of who it was, Opal says Meghan and Harry’s experience shows just how problematic the Royal Family has been for quite some time, and the world doesn’t need to have institutions that treat Black people as if they don’t matter,” TMZ reports.
Tometi also says that Meghan’s experience is what all too often happens with black people and that when they try to go through the proper channels to resolve a problem, it turns out that the problem is with the institution itself.
During her Sunday night interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan expressed frustration that her son Archie was not given the royal title of prince. During a discussion about this, Meghan told Winfrey, “In the months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we have in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
Meghan later clarified that these “conversations” were with Harry, not herself. Both Harry and Meghan refused to name which family member allegedly expressed “concerns” regarding their son’s skin color. Winfrey later said that she had been told off-camera by Harry that the person in question was not the Queen or her husband, Prince Phillip.
Though Meghan’s allegation seemed to center on her frustration that her son was not given a royal title of prince, the convention surrounding this issue dates back 100 years. As Breitbart’s Jack Montgomery explained, the rule of not granting the great-grandson of a sitting monarch the title of prince was laid down over a century ago by the current Queen’s grandfather, King George V.
The Royal Family has since taken the unusual step of issuing a statement about the allegations. “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” Buckingham Palace’s statement reads.
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